This week, one of the calendar’s most somber holidays befalls us again. No, not Ash Wednesday – we’re talking about the return of Daylight Savings Time and the loss of that precious, precious hour. If you’re like us and you need every second you can get, maybe you’ll appreciate the short songs we chose for this week – “Holly Jolly Christmas” as performed by Michael Bublé is consistently Bublé, while “Good to Be Bad” by Pentatonix delivers an unexpected twist that has us contemplating a life of crime. Or at least, movies about a life of crime featuring Pentatonix.
This week, one of the calendar’s most somber holidays befalls us again. No, not Ash Wednesday – we’re talking about the return of Daylight Savings Time and the loss of that precious, precious hour. If you’re like us and you need every second you can get, maybe you’ll appreciate the short songs we chose for this week – “Holly Jolly Christmas” as performed by Michael Bublé is consistently Bublé, while “Good to Be Bad” by Pentatonix delivers an unexpected twist that has us contemplating a life of crime. Or at least, movies about a life of crime featuring Pentatonix.
This week, we celebrate Mardi Gras en français with a pair of songs hailing from the province of Quebec. “Fa la la” by Bündock is strange but charming, while “Le temps d’une dinde” by Roland Hi! Ha! Tremblay is … stranger and less charming? If you’re from Quebec and/or a French speaker who would like to explain the context we’re surely missing in this episode, please email us.
Valentine’s Day is upon us once again, and this year we’re tackling some holiday songs about love and romance that also turned out to be kind of spooky? By request, we listen to “Dear Santa (Bring me a Man this Christmas)” by The Weather Girls, which is weird but mostly charming. We pair it with “Christmas Eve” by Justin Bieber, which somehow manages to be even weirder, and also charmless.
Thank you to Thomas for the request!
A polarizing holiday classic is finally making its way onto our list! By request(s), we take a long, hard look at “Last Christmas” by Wham! and wash it down with George Michael’s “December Song (I Dreamed of Christmas)”.
Thank you to Patricia for the requests!
For Groundhog Day, we’re celebrating the 90s way, with a little déjà vu! We cover requests from some of our repeat-requesters, digging into “Home Once a Year” by Marshall Burns and “Christmas C’mon” by Lindsey Stirling and Becky G.
Thanks to Listener Jenny and Captain McGloo for these requests!
This week we listen to two more Christmas songs from the southern hemisphere – “Aussie Jingle Bells” by Bucko & Champs, which is exactly what you would expect, and “Santa Never Made It Into Darwin” by Bill & Boyd, which is maybe more of a bummer than you would expect. FYI, this one is Ian’s fault.
It’s our first requests of 2019 (submitted in 2018)! We cover two songs destined for the “mushy middle” of the list, but each one brings us some joy along the way. “Santa Says Relax” by Joe Innes and the Cavalcade is a post-ironic indie tune that makes us wish it was Christmas, while “Christmas in New Orleans” by Rickie Lee Jones is a sad, complex song that merits a second listen.
Thanks to Jenny for the requests!
RJ and Ian are back from their international holiday travels, and they are SLEEPY. In this first episode of HARK recorded on this side of 2019, Ian explains the Julian calendar, RJ coins some new idioms, and we cover two new year songs – “Same Old Land Syne” by Dan Fogelberg and “New Year’s Day” by U2. Yeah.
We have been informed that we do not cover enough songs from the 1980s, and for our first episode of 2019, we are taking decisive action. Unfortunately for 80s fans, that action does not involve covering songs from that decade. Instead, we’re talking about two songs that remind us of the 1980s – “Christmas was Better in the Eighties” by The Futureheads and “Merry Something to You” by Devo.
Matthew’s slideshow featuring analysis of HARK can be viewed here!
Hanukkah and Christmas are done and past for another year, and on this December the 26th we’re celebrating Kwanzaa! We add two new Kwanzaa songs to the list: Teddy Pendergrass’ smooth, catchy, and a little bit corny anthem “Happy Kwanzaa” and Lovely Hoffman’s – well, lovely – “A Kwanzaa Song”.